Saab key or not a key? That is the question.

The photo looks like a Saab key, doesn't it? It's just a key for a Saab 9-3 Sports Saloon, Combi or convertible, isn't it? So what's so remarkable about that? Well, nothing. But what if it was altogether something else? What could it be?

If you have any ideas what this might be, then let me know in the comments below. If not, then wait until next week when we will add these to our online store.

We have a range of new products being added to our store. I'd like to get them in today, but time is against me as I have a train to catch, so look out for them at the beginning of next week.

If you are a proud parent, then we have a few items that will be of interest for the little Saab enthusiast in your life, ...again, look out for those on Monday.

In the meantime, a key or not a key, that is the question...

How to Photograph Cars, including Saabs I Suppose?

How to Photograph Cars, by Tony Baker, is an enthusiasts' guide to the techniques and equipment employed by a professional car photographer working for Classic and Sportscar magazine.

It is a readable book that avoids the use of jargon, and what little jargon is used is explained upfront. The book aims to impart the knowledge and techniques in creating stunning photography of all manner of vehicles.

Each photograph in the book is accompanied by a caption that tells you what vehicle it is and the method employed in created the particular photograph.

There are a couple of interesting things about the book. Firstly, the fact that two or three pretty shocking (ie: bad) photos made it into the book under the pretext of being 'creative'. Nope, they were not creative. They were just completely blurred with nothing in focus at all.

The other item of note was a photo of three cars together. The car in the middle? ...a 1977 Saab 99 turbo that belongs to a friend of mine!

Unfortuantely this book appears to be out of print, now.

The situation on Saab ignition discharge modules

For the last few weeks it has been difficult to obtain Trionic 7 Saab ignition discharge modules (aka 'DI Cassettes') due to a shortage from Saab (GM!). Elkparts first made it's customers aware of this in our occasional email newsletter of 24th September.

Fortunately Elkparts had stock at the time and we continued to honour our enhanced price until that stock ran out. Those customers were very lucky as prices have now reverted to the Saab retail price as we can just not get the discounts whilst stocks are limited and sporadic.

Over recent weeks we have even had Saab dealers calling us desperate to track down some stock.

The reason for the delay, the story goes, is that the manufacturer making this product for Saab went out of business. The tooling belongs to Saab/GM but it took a little time to retrieve this from the administrators. A new manufacturer is now manufacturing new product but stock is only available as VOR (Vehicle Off Road) which means no discounts are available.

Supply is still sporadic and stock is still limited, but they are coming through slowly.

Elkparts sold it's last Trionic 7 ignition discharge module, yesterday morning. We have another one due in today. The message, in the short term at least, continues to be to place your order for Trionic 7 DI Cassettes as we are able to find stock to satisfy these orders, but it may take a couple of days.

Saab 9-3 Sport Combi - remote controlled model!

This product was launched by Saab Expressions, Saab's official lifestyle merchandising arm, a few years ago, now. Like the radio-controlled 9-3 Viggen* model before it, this model is destined to become a collectors' item, especially now that it has been unavailable from Saab for some months.

Fortunately, Saab Expressions offered it's remaining stock to Elkparts, a few months ago, so we bought up the last of this special model.

Back when the radio controlled model was first launched, I took some video in my mate Jez's kitchen. Yes, it really is that fast. The video was processed on a Mac then transferred to Windows Media. Add in my general level of video-editing (in)competence and that is why there are a few artefacts, but you can see what it is doing.

The advantage that this one has over the Viggen model is that you can select from three different frequencies so that you can race two or three of these against your friends. That gives me an idea - we really ought to get out at lunchtime and race some of these around the car park!

Supplied as boxed product containing 1:20 scale Saab Sport Combi, remote controller and handbook, this product requires 1x 9-volt PP3 size battery and 4x 1.5-volt AA size batteries. Please note that it is not suitable for children under three years old.

If you are after one of these for your son, daughter, neice or nephew, or if you are a big kid and want one of your own then remember that stocks are extrememly limited.

Video to be uploaded soon!

Click here to get your radio controlled Saab 9-3 Sport Combi whilst we still have stock.

* Yes, I have one of these, too, Swade ;)

Remember, remember the 1st of November...

Nope, it's not bonfire night, that comes a few days later, but here at Elkparts we are planning a special offer for customers wanting to upgrade their Saab 9-3 or Saab 9-5 with BSR's Portable Programme Carrier (PPC).

That means if you are currently thinking of upgrading your Saab, DON'T! Not until the 1st of November, at least, when you will be able to take advantage of our special offer, details of which we will announce on 31st October!

For customers who are not familiar with PPC, this device enables you to tune your Saab without needing to open the toolkit to reach for spanners and torx-drivers. Simply plug the PPC into the diagnostics port (found beneath the steering wheel, ...no, lower down than that!) and follow the on-screen instructions.

PPC downloads your standard Saab software map and uploads a new software map, optimised by BSR for performance, economy and smoothness. It's as simple as that. You are free to plug in the PPC and revert to your original Saab settings, or back to the BSR settings, or Saab, or BSR, you get the idea.

For more information on BSR's PPC click here. But don't order yours until 1st November if you want to benefit from our special offer ;)

Using RSS to keep in touch with Elkparts

RSS is a great way of keeping yourself informed of what is going on with various websites without the need to be constantly visiting those sites just on the offchance that they may have been updated since your last visit.

RSS brings the updated content to you, to your desktop, your laptop or even some mobile phones these days!

Elkparts currently provides RSS feeds for it's knowledge base and the blog that you are reading now. Or you may be reading this in your favourite RSS reader or web browser?

The advantage of RSS syndication is that you can receive the information that you want to receive as soon as it is available, all without the need to overload your email inbox with even more email. Let's face it - most of us already receive too much email these days.

There are a number of ways in which to receive and read your feeds. The ones that we like are Feedreader and Google Reader - but plently of others are available. You can even read feeds as live bookmarks in the Firefox web browser.

It's worth giving it a go, not only can you receive information from Elkparts via RSS, there is a wealth of information out there being served by RSS - so whether you are interested in technology, mountain walking, cycling or some other interest then there is bound to be an RSS feed to interest you.

Elkparts currently offers the following RSS feeds:

The Elkparts knowledge base is expected to be a fairly low traffic feed where we will be adding the occasional article. For the Elkparts knowledgebase use:
http://support.elkparts.com/posts.rss (RSS 2.0)

The Elkparts blog feed is intended to be a regular feed where you can easily keep up to date with developments at Elkparts including special offers, new products and Saab related news of interest to Saab owners. For the Elkparts blog use one of the following:
http://blog.elkparts.com/atom.xml (ATOM)
http://blog.elkparts.com/index.rdf (RSS 1.0)
http://blog.elkparts.com/rss.xml (RSS 2.0)

We'd love to hear from you and how you use your RSS feeds. Let us know if you are receiving your Elkparts RSS feeds on a mobile device or if you have an unusual story.

Stuck for stickers

The popularity of our range of Saab themed vinyl stickers has proved so popular that our ample stocks have, again, been depleted before we could replenish them. Please accept our apologies, new ones are on the way, just as soon as we can get them.

In the meantime we have removed the unavailable Saab stickers from our product catalogue until new stock arrives, whereupon we will reactivate those products.

By popular demand from you, our customers, we have changed the format of the 2" (50mm) high Saab Griffin stickers to a 'handed' design. Previously these stickers were supplied in pairs that both faced left. New stickers due to arrive with us will be supplied in pairs where one faces left, the other right. This means that you can mount them on the sides of your Saab and they will both face in the same direction - presumably the front.

Keep an eye on the store for the stickers when they come in. In the meantime, why not let us know if there are any particular sticker designs that you would like to see. Use the comments below.

Bright idea!

I ran the Great South Run, last Sunday. Shame it rained, otherwise it was an extremely well attended event with some 19,000 runners taking part. I was some 30 minutes behind the winner, but I still managed to finish in the top 10%, so I was pleased with my time of 1h 19m 13s.

Which brings me neatly onto the matter of this evening's run. A simple four-miler, as quick as you can. With the aid of Google Maps I found a route and went out and ran it. In the rain, again!

Being a weekday it was after work and as the clocks have gone back the evenings are darker. I was all lycra-d-up and ready to go, but I needed to be seen in order to be safe, which is when a little light illuminated in my head.

And moments later a little light illuminated on my head!

It was a nifty little accessory from Saab Expressions that we have had stocked for a little while, now. It is small, light and operates from a single AA-cell, which is supplied. Not a cheap battery either. You get a Duracell AA battery with this head torch.

What astonishes me is the power from a single AA-cell and a single LED (light emitting diode) in the lamp. The beam is focussed and extremely powerful. So powerful that you can not look into it. So powerful that I was illuminating road signs a couple of hundred yards before I got to them.

The Petzl style head lamp also very light, having only one small battery, and quite comfortable. I did not really notice it strapped to my head whilst I was running - that is how light it is.

Further, the LED does not consume much power, as evidenced by the Saab head lamp that I strapped to my cycle helmet almost a year ago. Press the button once to illuminate, a second time for flashing illumination and a third time to turn it off.

This little head torch is excellent quality and worth every penny. It is a must-have accessory for all cyclists, runners, walkers, hikers and is useful for other outdoor pursuits. As we are a Saab retailer we could also mention that it is useful when you are working under the Saab or in the engine bay and you need more light but are without a third hand to help provide it. Now, that is a bright idea.

Click here for your Petzl-style Saab Head Torch / Lamp

A warm offer

Winter is coming, judging by the weather forecast for Elkparts Towers. Temperatures to dip below freezing, sleet (that's like snow-lite) and general wintryness for the next few days.

No better time, then, to let you know about our special offer for this week ...strictly whilst stocks last.

The little pebble-like, erm, thing, is small enough to hold comfortably in the palm of your hand - which is a good start as it is designed to be there given that it is ahand warmer.

I can not tell you why it works, because I only got a grade 1 CSE in chemistry (I failed the O-Level exam!), but I can tell you how it works.

Place one or two of these in your pocket before you go out walking, hiking, running, skiing, shooting, hunting, fishing, shopping or even working on the Saab. When you have reached that point where your fingers have frozen and you are losing your dexterity, simply pull one of these out of your pocket, snap the little plastic tag inside and watch in awe as the gel-filled sachet crystalizes. You can actually watch the gel crystalize and spread at the same time dispensing instant heat.

I tried one of these for myself, this morning, and it provided heat to my hands for some twenty minutes, which was rather welcome as it's a bit brassic in our warehouse.

What's more, this little puppy is reusable. To turn the crystals back into a gel you just wrap the pebble (that's what I shall call it from now on) in a cloth and immerse into boiling water. Leave in boiling water until all of the crystals have dissolved and then it is ready for its next use.

We think that they are so good, we are giving a Saab Hand Warmer away FREE with every order placed online in our secure store. The terms are simple. Just place your an order in our online store and we will enclose one of these hand warmers. You may place an order for a hand warmer alone (you will need to pay carriage, thought), or for some other stuff - it's your choice. We will send onefree Saab hand warmer with each order.

That means that if you are cheeky and order 100, we will send you just one. You may place as many orders as you like, but each order qualifies for just one free Saab handwarmer. Needless to say, the offer is only whilst stocks last and Elkparts' decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into. It's a simple straight-forward offer, but you'd be surprised at how many clowns we get trying to order a lorry-load at a time!